The Perfect Wagnerite (Dover Books on Music) - Softcover

Shaw, George Bernard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0486217078 ISBN 13: 9780486217079

Publisher: Dover Publications, 2010

Synopsis

As a commentator on music and music critics, Bernard Shaw was experienced and knowledgeable, strongly opinionated, and, as in all his writing, unsurpassed for brilliance and wit. The reader will find that this commentary on the cycle of four Wagner operas known as "The Ring" contains all these characteristics: it is enlightening and provocative, and it makes very entertaining reading.
Shaw was firm Wagner partisan, and in the book he enthusiastically endorses the operas and Wagner's music in general. Particularly interested in the philosophic and social ideology behind the Ring operas, he also discusses Wagner's life, the character of music drama as opposed to grand opera, the role of the Leitmotif in unifying the cycle and delineating character, the character of Siegfried, and many other related questions.
As with all of Shaw's work, even if the reader disagrees with much of it, he will still find the analysis full of stimulating ideas and valuable insights, and written throughout with rare liveliness and wit.

About this title

About the Author:

In the course of his long and prolific career, George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) wrote 60 plays, in addition to music and literary criticism. An avid socialist, he regarded his writing as a vehicle for promoting his political and humanitarian views.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0486217078
• ISBN 13: 9780486217079
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 4
• Number of pages: 176